Escape
by Mother Zephyr
Summary: Draco thinks there is only one way out. Can Hermione save him in time? Warnings: Self mutilation and suicide. 71704 New Chapter uploaded!
1. Escape

**Author - **Zephyr**  
Title – **Escape**  
Rating – **R  
**Challenge –** Draco and Hermione have to say goodbye come end of 7th year**  
Summary/Medium – **Draco only sees one way out. Can Hermione save him in time?**   
Warnings (if applicable) – **Suicide attempt**  
Other pairings (if applicable) - **Harry/Ron (mentioned)**  
Length (if applicable) – **2015 words, 6 pages.****

**Author's notes - **The following song by Smile Empty Soul inspired this story. I know it is dark, angsty and there isn't any smut. Some stories just can't have the smut. I hope you enjoy it.****

**With This Knife   
Lyrics by Smile Empty Soul**

I let myself fall into a lie  
I let my walls come down  
I let myself smile and feel alive  
I let my walls come down  
no matter how I try I don't know why  
you push so far away  
you wrapped your hands tight around my heart  
and squeezed it full of pain   
  
with this knife I'll cut out the part of me   
the part that cares for you  
with this knife I'll cut out the heart of me  
the heart that cares for you  
  
I can't believe the way you took me down  
I never saw the pain  
coming in a million broken miles  
like poison in my veins  
  
_[chorus]_  
  
the hate and the fear  
the nightmares that wake me up  
in the tears  
the nightmares and (the hate)...

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Draco slipped back into the deserted corridor and walked swiftly down the main staircase. He passed the great hall with not so much a glance inside. He didn't bother taking a last look at his surroundings as he passed because he fully expected to be haunting the place shortly.

He passed the Slytherin common room and the muffled sounds of the party with in. He traveled deeper into the dungeons. He came to a plain wooden door and pushed it silently open. He had cast a silencing charm on its creaking hinges just the night before. He didn't bother locking the door behind him because no one ever came this deep into the dungeons.

The room was barren but for a few dust mites. Draco muttered a soft Incendio and a single candle guttered to life casting flickering shadows around the room. He put his back to one of the walls and slowly slid down to the floor unconcerned for the state of his expensive robes. It didn't matter any more anyway.

He rummaged in the pocket of his robes for a moment then slipped the blade from an inner pocket. He gazed at its jeweled[DH1] hilt and scabbard; entranced for a moment at the way the gems glimmered in the meager light. The topaz and emerald crusted scabbard flashed in the light of the candle and the large golden topaz in the hilt of the dagger seemed to glow from a light within. It amused him to think about how humans made such deathly things beautiful, almost as if they tried to deny their true purpose. The knife sang as he pulled it from the scabbard, a sweet note that made him think of a siren's song.[DH2]

The blade flashed as he turned it this way and that, looking at the way his reflection distorted in the polished steel. He ran his finger along its razor edge and hissed in pain when the knife slit open his fingertip. He watched in fascination as a single drop of blood fell and splashed onto the blade and then disappeared. The knife absorbed the drop before his eyes and then called for more.

"Soon," Draco whispered.

He held the knife in one hand and rolled up his sleeves as he did so the blank expanse of skin on his left forearm entranced him. Tomorrow, if his father had his way, there would be the hideous skull and snake branded there. This was Draco's last chance to avoid that, his last chance at defiance. He smiled grimly at the thought of thwarting his father's master plan.

After tonight he would never have to wake in the middle of the night with a scream dying in his throat. After tonight he would never have to endure his father's lectures that were laced with bout after bout of Cruatius curses. After tonight he would be free.

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Hermione sat at her dressing table extremely thankful that she had a private room not far from Gryffindor Tower. She shuddered at the thought of a pissed Lavender and Pavarti stumbling into the room giggling then getting sick on their floor. Thank Merlin she was Head Girl.

She had just returned from spending the last few hours at the party the seventh year Gryffindors threw that night, their final night at Hogwarts. She had tried to keep the drinking to a minimum but since they were nearly all over age, there wasn't much she really could do but let them drink themselves sick. She hoped that the hangover tomorrow morning would teach a few of them a lesson. She walked across her room to check on the hangover relief potion she started that afternoon knowing that come morning nearly every seventh year would be looking to her for relief from their folly.

Hermione returned to the dressing table and removed her earrings and the necklace she wore around her neck. The boys had all chipped in and had gotten the girls simple gold chains and little pendants with the golden Gryffindor lion that was charmed to roar softly when stroked. She put the jewelry away neatly in her jewelry box and began to brush the tangles from her hair and wrestled the now bushy mass into a thick braid.

She stood and was halfway across her room in the direction of the bathroom when a soft rustle at her door caught her attention. A half folded piece of parchment slid a few feet across the floor and then came to a stop.

Hermione scooped up the parchment and contemplated the hurriedly scrawled _Granger_ on the front. Hermione scanned the note quickly at first then sank down onto the dressing table bench and read it again more slowly.

Granger— 

_Don't bother coming to look for me, I'll be found soon enough. I just wanted to apologize for being such an arse all these years. I realize now that everything I ever said to you was what my father believed. I wish I had been strong enough to stand up to him. I never wanted to be his mouthpiece. I don't want to become the Death Eater he wants. _

_None of it matters anymore besides it ends tonight._

_This seems strange now to write but I really wish we could have been friends._

—_D. Malfoy _

Hermione stared at the parchment in shock then crumpled the parchment in her fist. She had to stop him. There were other ways to keep him from his father's wrath. As much as she had detested the ferret she didn't want to see him die. His apology really got to her and now that she thought about it he hadn't insulted her in any way all term. Maybe he was trying to turn over a new leaf; if he was she had to stop him. Suicide was not the answer.

Hermione raced back to the Gryffindor common room and scanned quickly for Harry or Ron. Neither was in sight. She took the stairs two at a time up to the boy's dormitory. She swung the door open with a crash and her best friends sprang apart from what looked to be some enthusiastic snogging. She had always had a feeling the boys were a bit friendlier than just best friends should be.

"Oy, 'Mione." Ron exclaimed as he blushed bright red and after a moment his modesty kicked in when her tried to cover his and Harry's naked bodies.

"I'm sorry Ron but Harry, I need the map. It's an emergency," Hermione pleaded.

"It's in my trunk," Harry said softly. His blush was nearly as red as Ron's hair.

"Thank you Harry," Hermione said as she rushed across the room and threw open Harry's trunk. She snatched the map from inside and muttered with a tap of her wand, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

She scanned the map for a moment and finally spotted her quarry in the dungeons. Hermione headed for the door and paused before closing the door behind her.

Looking over her shoulder she grinned mischievously, "Harry, Ron, you might want to lock the door after me." With answering grins from her best friends she shut the door and raced back out of Gryffindor tower.

She ran through the corridors as fast as she could and only stopped the look at the map again when she passed Snape's classroom. She passed the Slytherin common room though she itched to enter and take house points for the amount of noise that was still emanating from the dungeon common room. She moved swiftly down the corridor and stopped in front of a plain wooden door, according to the map Draco was inside.

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Draco pressed the knife to his forearm and sucked in a breath as the knife bit into his skin. He watched fascinated as blood began to well in the cut as he drew the knife toward his wrist. Inside his head he could hear the knife shout gleefully. As the Vampire Blade did its job he was slowly becoming light headed. He switched the blade to his other hand to perform the same procedure on his other arm as he touched the blade to his skin the door crashed open.

"Draco, don't!" Hermione Granger rushed across the room and batted the knife out of his hand. "Oh, how could you?"

She ripped the sleeve from his shirt and pressed it to his bleeding arm. The white fabric slowly became red with his blood.

"Leave me be Granger," Draco growled and tried to pry his arm from her grasp.

To his consternation she held on tight. "No, Draco. I won't let you go like this."

"Then I'm doomed anyway." He shut his eyes.

"No, you're not." His eyes shot open at the fierceness of her voice. He was hauled up to his feet and his untouched arm was thrown over her shoulder. "I have got to get you to Madam Pomfrey."

"No, not Pomfrey." Draco said thickly becoming perilously closer to passing out. "S-Severus."

She nodded and led him out of the room. They made it down the hall and past the now quiet Slytherin common room. Hermione consulted the map one last time and found the entrance to Professor Snape's rooms.

"Password," the portrait of a dour looking wizard demanded.

"_Anguigena Pueri,_" Draco said softly.

The portrait opened for them and once inside Hermione called out for Professor Snape. Severus Snape appeared in just a soft white shirt and black trousers, his feet were even bare. His eyes widened as his vicious retort died on his lips and he crossed the room swiftly and swept up the nearly unconscious Draco into his arms.

Draco felt a softness envelope him and all he wanted to do was go to sleep. He was so tired.

"Draco, what have you done?" came his mentor's pained question.

"Escape," Draco whispered as unconsciousness overtook him.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Hermione took one last look around her room making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She floated her trunk and left the room and made her way down the winding stairs to the entrance hall. She settled her trunk with the others to be taken to the Hogwarts Express and then joined the rest of the school in their last meal together.   
  
Hermione shared a knowing look with Harry and Ron who both blushed and returned to their breakfasts. Her gaze traveled over to the Slytherin table and was worried to see the absence of the familiar blonde head. She looked quickly to the head table seeking and finding Professor Snape's dark presence quickly. He gave her a small grim smile and nodded almost imperceptibly. Draco was all right. She sighed in relief. Hermione knew that Professor Snape and Dumbledore would find a way to keep him safe.

Hermione rose with the rest of the school but lingered in the hall making sure the first years didn't forget any belongings and made their way to the carriages to take them to the train. Hermione made her way into the Hall and took one last look around.

"Granger."

Hermione turned around slowly to find a ghostly pale Draco Malfoy standing at the head of the stairs the led to the dungeons. His skin was nearly translucent and his arm was bound up in a white gauze sling that shone brightly against his ink black robes.

"Malfoy," she said in return.

"Thank you," he said simply, "Severus and Dumbledore have wrangled my father into giving permission to stay here to be Severus' apprentice."

Hermione smiled. "See, there was always another way."

He smiled a little and Hermione turned to leave. "Gra-- Hermione," his voice stopped her.

She turned to see that he had moved a few steps closer to her. "Yes, Draco?"

"Would it be all right if I wrote you from time to time?"

Hermione smiled and closed the distance between them. "I would like that." Careful of his arm she hugged her former enemy. "Goodbye Draco."

"Goodbye Hermione," he said softly to her as she waved from the entrance hall doors.

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A/N: Thank you to my betae Dryad and Snapeaholic.


	2. Letters

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Chapter 2 – Letters 

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_July 2nd—_

_Granger –_

_I know I asked if I could write to you but I really don't know what to say. I have never written a letter to a muggle-born before._

_I never thought I would live to say that I actually miss Scarhead and Weasel but without the Golden Trio to annoy, the castle is quite boring. Only a few teachers are still in the castle; the rest have left on holiday. Only Hooch, Snape, Dumbledore and I are here. It is too bad that I cannot leave the grounds. Snape and Dumbledore tell me that it isn't safe. It isn't as if I can't defend myself, I am a fully-fledged wizard after all._

_I have to say that as a Master, Snape is ten times worse than he ever was as a professor. Just the other day he had me slice three cases each of aconite root, leeches and billywig stings. I still have the leech guts under my nails._

_Speaking of Professor Snape… Dumbledore told us that you were accepted into the Aristotle Institute in Athens. Snape would never tell you but his chest puffed up in pride when he heard that you had been accepted into the research potions program. _

_On a more personal note, I have yet to hear from my father, which I suppose is a good thing but the professor came back from a summons badly injured about a week ago. He told me that the Dark Lord was not pleased with my absence from the initiation. _

_Hopefully the danger will pass soon and I can get out of this forsaken castle just for a few hours. What I wouldn't do for a Fortescue's Sundae right now._

– _Draco _

Draco read the letter over again and decided that it would do. Possibly writing letters to Granger would alleviate some of his boredom. He poured a small pool of wax over the seal of the envelope and then pressed his Malfoy Signet into the cooling liquid.

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_July 3rd —_

_Draco –_

_I was surprised by the arrival of your owl this morning. I was surprised to find a seal; I didn't think that they were used much anymore. It was quite an elegant touch. _

_I can only imagine how bored you must be in that castle. It is too bad that you are the only young person there. Maybe Dumbledore will allow me to visit? You could ask. Just think you have access to every book in the library now, no waiting for passes and the restricted section holds many fascinating books._

_Please heed Professor Snape and the Headmaster's warnings. I would hate to hear that something awful has happened to you. _

_I am glad to hear things are going well in your apprenticeship and it is to be expected that the Professor would be tougher on you now, your success or failure now reflects directly upon him and his standing as a Potions Master. Really Draco, you only need a good cleaning charm to get the nasty leech guts from beneath your nails. You 'are' a wizard after all._

_I am very pleased to be attending Aristotle. I only wish it wasn't so very far away. Harry and Ron are both in London to begin their Auror training and Ginny will be returning in the fall to Hogwarts. I feel like we are all being torn in different directions. Some days it makes me quite sad really, but enough being maudlin. _

_I'm sorry but I will refrain from commenting on your father but I do hope Professor Snape is all right, and I hope that Voldemort (stop it, it is only a name after all) will turn his focus away from you soon. Speaking of 'the Dark Lord' (is that better?) have you heard anything from Dumbledore or Snape about battles or the coming war? _

Well I could help you with the sundae though, if you take the staircase that leads to the Hufflepuff common room and bear to the right where the corridor forks, you will come to a painting of a basket of fruit. Tickle the pear.

– _Hermione_

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Draco read through Hermione's letter again as he licked whipped cream off his bottom lip. It was good to have a friend. He did hear one interesting tidbit that he would have to include to Hermione in his next letter.

In decidedly good spirits he went back to eating his sundae and let the house-elves fawn over him. He was definitely going to need to fly off these treats tomorrow.

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_July 5th —_

_Hermione –_

Thank you so much for the information about the kitchens. You are a lifesaver but if I get fat it will be all your fault. Really though, Thank you.

I did hear one interesting bit of news concerning what you asked in your last letter. Snape was summoned last night and when he returned I overheard he and Dumbledore speaking. A muggle neighborhood outside of London is being targeted for an attack in the next few days. It is to be a test for the new Death Eaters.

Granger, seriously if you live in the vicinity of Ealing get out. Go on holiday, visit Potty and Weasel, I don't care what you do just don't be there.

– _Draco _

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Draco felt uneasy. He hoped that if Hermione lived in this Ealing that she had been able to convince her family to leave for a while. He didn't really know anything about her life at home. Did she have siblings? What did her parents do? He would ask her in his next letter. In the mean time he had to go badger Dumbledore again about letting Hermione visit before she went off to Greece.

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"Mum, Dad. I just got a wonderful idea," Hermione was on tender-hooks, "Lets pop over to Spain for a holiday. Just pack a bag with some essentials and be vagabonds for a few days."

"Hermione what has gotten in to you?" Carol Granger was looking at Hermione with a piercing gaze.

Hermione sighed she knew that she would never convince her parent to shut down their practice with out some sort of explanation of her behavior. "Mum, we have to leave Ealing for a few days. A—friend sent me a warning. Death Eaters are going to attack the village some time with in the next few days."

"Why would they attack here?" Doug Granger asked softly.

"Who knows why Death Eaters do what they do?" Hermione said in exasperation. "They are going to be muggle hunting, there is a new batch of Death Eaters and they want to play I suppose."

"Mum, Dad, listen to Hermione. When has she ever been wrong?"

Hermione's head swiveled to her younger sister sitting across the table. Karen was two years younger than Hermione. She had the normal name, the normal sleek hair, and the normal life of a teenager. Hermione envied her sister's normal life on occasion.

With Karen's help her parents were convinced to take a short holiday. They didn't go far though, only to Brighton where they had a home on the rocky beach. Hermione silently thanked Draco for his tip and sent her owl, Solomon, to Harry and Ron at the Auror training facility in London with the tip and letting them know that she was safe.

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_July 6th —_

_Draco –_

I was able to convince my parents to take us all on a holiday. Thank you for telling me about the danger in Ealing.

I owe you so much. I don't know what I would have done if something happened to my parents. I'll write again soon

– _Hermione_

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The Daily Prophet

DEATH EATERS ATTACK LONDON SUBURB

The village of Ealing, a predominately muggle settlement, was attacked last night, several buildings were burnt to the ground and several more blasted apart. There were also several casualties in this latest horrifying attack. Six muggles lay dead and a dozen more have been taken to St. Mungo's for treatment.

One area of the hamlet took the most damage, several homes along Mattock Lane were destroyed. Including the home of prominent citizens, Douglas and Carol Granger who run the Bright Smiles Dentistry ( place where muggles go to have tooth problems fixed). Luckily the dentists were not in residence at the time of the attack having taken their daughters Karen and Hermione on holiday. Hermione is a recent graduate of Hogwarts and was a former Head Girl.

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Draco looked back and forth between the Clipping and Hermione's letter. He was pleased that she got away from the attack. Draco looked up when someone sat heavily beside him.

"The Headmaster and I have decided to grant your request."

Draco looked up into his mentor's black eyes and grinned. Hermione was coming back to Hogwarts!

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Author's Notes:

ok Folks there it is the second chapter. Any Suggestions for what happens during Hermione's visit?

Thank you to Dryad and Snapeaholic for the betaing.


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